Narrow neck glass container with internal embossments and method of manufacture

ABSTRACT

A narrow neck glass container includes a container body and a container neck finish. The container neck finish has an external closure attachment diameter of not more than 36 mm, and the container body has at least one internal embossment of predetermined geometry. The at least one internal embossment preferably comprises a plurality of internal embossments in a geometric pattern.

The present disclosure relates to manufacture of a narrow neckpress-and-blow glass container having at least one embossment on aninternal surface of the container.

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

Narrow neck glass containers, such as beverage containers,conventionally are fabricated in a press-and-blow or a blow-and-blowmanufacturing operation. In a press-and-blow operation, a molten glasscharge or gob is placed in a blank mold and a plunger is moved into theblank mold to form the molten glass gob against the inside surfaces ofthe blank mold. The glass preform or parison then is removed from theblank mold and placed in a blow mold, in which the parison body isstretched by blow gas (usually air) against the internal surfaces of theblow mold while the neck finish remains in the geometry formed in theblank mold. It is desirable to provide internal embossments on the bodyof the final glass container for decorative or other purposes. It hasbeen proposed to provide external debossments or pockets on apress-and-blow plunger to form internal embossments in a glass parison,which become internal embossments in the final glass container bodyafterblow molding. However, this technique is not feasible in a narrowneck press-and-blow manufacturing operation because the outer surface ofthe plunger is essentially parallel to the direction of plunger motion.It therefore is one general object of the present disclosure to providea method of making a narrow neck glass container in a press-and-blowmanufacturing process and having at least one internal embossment on theglass container body.

The present disclosure embodies a number of aspects that can beimplemented separately from or in combination with each other.

A method of making an arrow neck glass container having a container neckfinish and a container body with at least one internal embossment, inaccordance with one aspect of the present disclosure, includes providinga blank mold having a mold body and a neck ring. The neck ring has aninternal surface for forming the final container neck finish having anexternal closure attachment diameter (i.e., a T (thread) diameter of athreaded finish and an A diameter of a crown finish) of not more than 36mm. The blank mold body has an internal surface with at least onedebossment or pocket of predetermined geometry. A gob of molten glass isplaced in the blank mold, and a plunger is moved through the neck ringinto the mold body to form the molten glass against the internalsurfaces of the neck ring and the mold body. A glass parison thereby isformed having the final container neck finish and a parison body with atleast one external embossment corresponding to the at least one internaldebossment on the mold body internal surface. The glass parisonpreferably is removed from the blank mold and placed into a blow moldhaving an internal surface. Blow gas is directed through the neck finishinto the parison body to stretch the parison body against the blow moldinternal surface and thereby push the at least one external embossmentthrough the wall of the parison body and form a container body having atleast one internal embossment corresponding to the external embossmenton the parison.

In accordance with another aspect of the present disclosure, a narrowneck glass container includes a container body and a container neckfinish. The container neck finish has a T diameter of not more than 36mm, and the container body has at least one internal embossment ofpredetermined geometry. The at least one internal embossment preferablycomprises a plurality of internal embossments in a geometric pattern. Aglass parison in accordance with a further aspect of the presentdisclosure includes a parison body and a neck finish. The neck finishhas an external closure attachment diameter of not more than 36 mm, andthe parison body has at least one external embossment of predeterminedgeometry. The at least one external embossment preferably comprises aplurality of external embossments in a geometric pattern.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The disclosure, together with additional objects, features, advantagesand aspects thereof, will best be understood from the followingdescription, the appended claims and the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional schematic diagram of a blank mold inaccordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is an elevational view of the blank mold in FIG. 1 explodedside-to-side for purposes of illustration;

FIGS. 3A-3B are schematic sectional views that illustrate blow moldingof the glass parison formed in FIG. 1;

FIGS. 4A-4C are side elevational views taken from different directionsof the container blow molded in FIGS. 3A-3B;

FIG. 4D is a fragmentary sectional view taken substantially along theline 4D-4D in FIG. 4A; and

FIGS. 5A-5C are schematic diagrams that illustrate stretching of theglass container parison during the blow molding operation of FIG. 3B.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate the blank mold stage of a glass containermanufacturing operation in accordance with an exemplary embodiment ofthe present disclosure. A blank mold 10 includes a multi-section neckring 12 having an internal surface 14 for forming the final containerneck finish geometry at the blank mold stage of manufacture. Amulti-section blank mold body 16 has an internal surface 18 with atleast one internal pocket or debossment, and preferably a plurality ofinternal pockets or debossments of predetermined geometry and preferablyin a predetermined geometric pattern. For example, FIG. 2 illustratesinternal debossments 20 of cross-shaped geometry, internal debossments22 of part-spherical geometry and internal debossments 24 of triangulargeometry. The respective series of debossments 20,22,24 are in lineararrays parallel to the axis of blank mold body 16. These particularexemplary debossment geometries and placements are for purposes ofillustration only.

To fabricate a container preform or parison 26 (FIGS. 1 and 3A), acharge or gob of molten glass is placed within the internal cavity ofblank mold 16, and a plunger 28 is propelled through neck ring 12 intothe internal cavity of mold body 16. Plunger 28 forms the molten glassagainst internal surfaces 14,18 of blank mold 10, forming a neck finish34 of final geometry and a parison body 35 having external embossments20 a, 24 a (FIG. 3A, and 22 a not shown) corresponding in geometry andspacing to respective internal debossments 20, 24 (and 22) on mold bodyinternal surface 18. Plunger 28 is withdrawn and parison 26 is moved toa multi-section blow mold 32 (FIGS. 3A and 3B). Narrow-neck finish 34has a threaded finish in this example with a T diameter (FIG. 3A) of notmore than 36 mm. (All exemplary dimensions are nominal and are subjectto variations due to manufacturing tolerances.)

A blow gas, usually air, is directed through neck finish 34 of parison26 into the hollow interior of the parison to stretch parison body 35toward the internal surface 36 of blow mold 32 (FIG. 3B). (A vacuum cansimultaneously be drawn around the parison outwardly against the blowmold surface.) As the parison expands and stretches, external parisonembossments 20 a, 24 a (and 22 a) simultaneously expand and stretch.When the external surface of the expanding parison body comes intocontact with internal blow mold surface 36, the external embossments 20a, 24 a (and 22 a not shown) on the parison body are effectively pushedthrough the sidewall of the expanding parison to form internalembossments 20 b, 22 b, 24 b (FIGS. 3A-4D) on the sidewall 38 of theblown container body. The geometries of the internal embossmentstypically are less sharp than those of the original external embossmentsdue to the stretching and displacement through the container wall thattakes place during blowing, as illustrated in FIG. 4D. The glass of theparison body normally is stretched more than 45% during this blowingoperation, and typically is stretched in the range of 45% to 70%.Internal embossments 20 b, 22 b, 24 b (FIGS. 4A-5C) have geometries andpatterns corresponding to the geometries and patterns of internaldebossments 20, 22, 24 (FIG. 2) in blank mold 16 as stretched anddisplaced during the blow molding operation. This stretching anddisplacement is illustrated in FIGS. 5A-5C.

There thus have been disclosed a method of making a narrow neck glasscontainer parison and glass container, and a narrow neck glass containerand a glass container parison made by such method, that fully satisfyall of the objects and aims previously set forth. The disclosure hasbeen presented in conjunction with an exemplary embodiment, and variousmodifications and variations have been described. Other modificationsand variations readily will suggest themselves to persons of ordinaryskill in the art in view of the foregoing description. For example,although the exemplary embodiment of the disclosure places the internalembossments on the sidewall of the container body, internal embossmentscould be placed on the container base by providing debossments orpockets in the blank mold baffle in FIG. 1, and blowing the resultingparison base against the blow mold end plate illustrated in FIGS. 3A and3B. The disclosure is intended to embrace all such modifications andvariations as fall within the spirit and broad scope of the appendedclaims.

1. A method of making a narrow neck glass container having a containerneck finish and a container body with at least one internal embossment,which includes the steps of: (a) providing a blank mold that includes amold body and a neck ring, said neck ring having an internal surface forforming a container neck finish having an external closure attachmentdiameter of not more than 36 mm, said mold body having an internalsurface with at least one debossment of predetermined geometry, (b)placing a gob of molten glass in said blank mold, (c) moving a plungerthrough said neck ring into said mold body to form said molten glass gobagainst said internal surfaces of said neck ring and said mold body, andthereby form a glass parison having said container neck finish and aparison body with at least one external embossment corresponding to saidinternal debossment in said mold body internal surface, and (d) removingsaid glass parison from said blank mold.
 2. The method set forth inclaim 1 including: (e) placing said glass parison into a blow moldhaving an internal surface, (f) directing blow gas through saidcontainer neck finish into said parison body to stretch said parisonbody against said blow mold internal surface, and thereby push said atleast one external embossment on said parison through said parison bodyand forming a container body having at least one internal embossmentcorresponding to said external embossment, and (g) removing the glasscontainer from said blow mold.
 3. The method set forth in claim 2wherein said parison body stretches at least 45% during said step (f).4. The method set forth in claim 3 wherein said parison body stretchesin the range of 45% to 70% during said step (f).
 5. The method set forthin claim 4 wherein said at least one internal debossment on saidinternal surface of said blank mold body includes a plurality ofinternal debossments in a geometric pattern, and wherein said at leastone internal embossment formed in said step (f) comprises a plurality ofinternal embossments in a geometric pattern corresponding to saidpredetermined geometric pattern of said internal debossments.
 6. A glasscontainer made in accordance with the method set forth in claim
 2. 7. Aglass parison made in accordance with the method set forth in claim 1.8. A narrow neck glass container that includes a container body and acontainer neck finish, said container neck finish having an externalclosure attachment diameter of not more than 36 mm, said container bodyhaving at least one internal embossment of predetermined geometry. 9.The glass container set forth in claim 8 wherein said at least oneinternal embossment includes a plurality of internal embossments in ageometric pattern.
 10. A glass parison that includes a parison body anda neck finish, said neck finish having an external closure attachmentdiameter of not more than 36 mm, said parison body having at least oneexternal embossment of predetermined geometry.
 11. The parison set forthin claim 10 wherein said at least one external embossment includes aplurality of external embossments in a predetermined geometric pattern.